Zora's Dawn (Defender Book 1) Read Free

because this being is not exactly
human.” He sighed as she stiffened beside him, but continued anyway. “You are a
special kind of person who can sense where they’ve been.”
    She pulled
her hands away and turned to face him fully. “I’m a ‘special type of person’
who can sense where ‘they’ve’ been. Powers, what exactly did you eat for breakfast
this morning? Or what did you drink with it? Or maybe you smoked some funny
cigarette?” She leaned closer and sniffed near his nose. He smelt of citrus and
man, a heady combination for sure, but nothing suspicious. Realising that she
was disturbingly close to his full lips she pulled back and marshalled a stern
expression.
    Powers
studied her unhappily. She wasn’t going to take this well, but she had to know,
and with what he suspected she had to know now. “Zora, listen to me, I know
this sounds absurd to you, but please try to listen with an open mind. I’ll
tell you more when we get back, I’ll even show you proof. But for now, listen
to me and don’t say anything.”
    Zora
stared at him, he was obviously serious. She shrugged, the sooner he said his
piece the sooner she got coffee and donuts. “Ok, I’m listening.”
     “Zora you
come from family with a long line of daughters born with a special ability.
Your mother would have told you about it when you were older if she were still
able to.” Zora closed her eyes briefly in remembered pain at the loss of a
mother she adored. Powers touched her cheek and she opened her eyes and focused
on his face. “What you can do is sense the presence of supernatural beings. I
believe you are very strong, you come from a family renowned for their
abilities. You have not been trained, and do not yet understand what you can do
and what you are capable of. There is much more to it, but for now just know
that what you did was sense the presence of another being.”
    Zora
stared, her golden eyes huge in her face. “Go on,” she urged. “Clearly there’s
more. What did I sense?”
    Powers
took both of her hands, rubbing his thumbs in circles on her palms. It felt
good in a way that was very distracting, but it was also comforting so she left
her hands there.
    “Zora, the
creature that you sensed, it was a werewolf.”

CHAPTER TWO

    Zora snatched
her hands away, took several steps back and stared at him, her natural
disbelief warring with some deep seated instinct. Disbelief – or maybe denial –
won and her eyes flashed scornful fire at him as she snapped, “A ‘werewolf’.
Right, there was a big hairy animal here striding around on its hind legs,
teeth gnashing, drooling at the prospect of human flesh. And nobody noticed!
And shouldn’t there be some sort of gamey smell here?” She sniffed again,
smelling only clean air scented from the flowering native trees. There was no
wild creature scent, no creature scent at all.
    Swinging
around she stared at the spot where Powers had said the murder occurred and wondered
exactly what had happened to the victim. And jumped as once again Powers
answered her unspoken question. He had come up behind her and his voice
vibrated against her eardrums as he said softly, “He was beheaded and
eviscerated. His heart, intestines, liver and kidneys were missing. His head
was left beside him, but the eyes were gone.”
    Shuddering
at this mental picture Zora felt her legs weaken and didn’t resist when Powers
slid a supporting arm around her waist and began walking her back to the car.
“Come on Zora, we’ll go get that coffee and donut, and when you’re ready I’ll
explain more of this to you.”
    Zora shook
her head weakly, her hair sliding across her shoulders and brushing the side of
his neck. Neither of them noticed the strands begin to glow, stopping abruptly
as she slid a hand under her neck and flicked her hair back into place. “I
don’t want to know Powers. I don’t know if this is real or if you are slightly
insane. But I don’t want to know any